Friday, July 23, 1999 Published at 16:08 GMT 17:08 UKMondini romps to personal bestGianpaolo Mondini: Denied the French a winItalian rider Gianpaolo Mondini has claimed one of the greatest triumphs of his career with a win in the 18th stage of the Tour de France.

The lanky rider took the 184.5km stage from Jonzac to the Futuroscope theme park with a brave sprint in the last 5km that put him clear of a lengthy 13-man breakaway.

French hope Jean-Cyril Robin came second after failing in his attempt to rein in the Italian, with Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan narrowly behind in third after a sprint for the line.

Lance Armstrong of the US, who has led the race from the early stages, retains his overall lead and the yellow jersey. He now looks virtually untouchable at the top.

French whitewash

Mondini's win is his most significant achievement since he turned pro in 1996. Since then he has only recorded five successes on the cycling circuit.

The 18th stage took on the air of a procession as none of the leads changed and teams proficiently marshalled their stars and kept them firmly at the top of their respective categories.

The absence of a French win in the Tour so far raised the spectre of only the second whitewash for the hosts since 1926.

But even that was not enough to provide the spark of excitement that was expected to add flavour to the closing stages of the race, as Robin thought briefly about an attack to catch Mondini then appeared to settle for second.

Stuart O'Grady of Australia, who is chasing green jersey holder Eric Zabel, had another dose of bad luck following his heavy fall on Thursday when he first suffered a puncture and was then involved in a three-bike crash.

Press allegations

If Zabel holds on to the points jersey until the finish on Sunday, he will win it for an unprecedented fourth consecutive time.